Kerry: Week has been 'a pretty direct confrontation with evil'

4/19/13 10:59 AM EDT

Secretary of State John Kerry began a Friday press conference with his Mexican counterpart with a brief statement on developments coming from Boston.

"This entire week we've been in a pretty direct confrontation with evil," Kerry said at the State Department, after videoconferencing in to a White House briefing on the investigation adn manhunt there.

"I want to congratulate and thank" law enforcement, he said. "In the past few days we've seen the best and we've seen the worst of human behavior."

Kerry didn't touch on the apparent Chechen origins of the suspects, saying he would "await law enforcement before commenting further." In the question-and-answer session that followed, Kerry declined to comment on "speculation" or a "hypothetical."